JFKNew York JFK
How long is the TSA security line at JFK right now?
At 10:40 am Eastern JFK standard lines run 3 to 24 min. The longest standard line is Terminal 4, 24 min. Terminal 7 is moving at 3 min.
Wait time by checkpoint
| Checkpoint | Standard | PreCheck |
|---|---|---|
| Terminal 1 | ||
| Terminal 1 | 18min | 7min |
| Terminal 4 | ||
| Terminal 4 | 24min | 2min |
| Terminal 5 | ||
| Terminal 5 | 21min | 9min |
| Terminal 7 | ||
| Terminal 7 | 3min | closed |
| Terminal 8 | ||
| Terminal 8 | 20min | 6min |
Read from jfkairport.com at 8 minutes ago, next read in 1
How busy JFK security usually is
People screened per hour at each checkpoint, averaged over 133 days of TSA counts, 22 March to 5 September 2026. Green is that checkpoint's quiet hours, red its peak. Find your checkpoint and look along the row for green.
| Checkpoint | 4a | 6a | 8a | 10 am, now | 12p | 2p | 4p | 6p | 8p | 10p | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Terminal 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Terminal 4 Delta 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Terminal 4 FIS CP | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Terminal 4 Main | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Terminal 5 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Terminal 7 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Terminal 8 |
Tap a cell for its count.
Quiet for this checkpointIts busiest hourclosed or no count
On the counted days JFK screened passengers in every hour of the day. Across JFK the busiest hour is 6 am and the counts fall away after 8 pm. Most checkpoints peak from noon on; Terminal 4 Main runs the other way at 6 am, Terminal 5 at 7 am and Terminal 7 at 11 am. TSA counts people, not minutes, so this shows when a checkpoint is loaded, not how long you will stand in it.
Questions people ask
How busy is JFK airport today?
At 10:40 am Eastern JFK standard lines run 3 to 24 min. The longest standard line is Terminal 4, 24 min. By TSA's counts 10 am is usually a middling hour at JFK, about 3,600 people an hour across its checkpoints against 6,200 at the 6 am peak. On a normal day JFK screens about 92,000 people, 3rd of the 431 airports TSA counts; its largest checkpoint is Terminal 4 Main.
Does PreCheck have a shorter line at JFK?
Right now PreCheck lanes at JFK read 2 to 9 min. Standard lanes read 3 to 24 min. PreCheck is open at Terminal 1, Terminal 4, Terminal 5 and Terminal 8; check the sign above before walking to one.
Which JFK checkpoint is fastest right now?
At 10:40 am Eastern the shortest standard line is at Terminal 7, 3 min. The sign above lists every checkpoint and lane the airport publishes, longest and shortest alike.
How long is the TSA line at each JFK terminal?
At 10:40 am Eastern the standard wait is 18 min at Terminal 1, 24 min at Terminal 4, 21 min at Terminal 5, 3 min at Terminal 7 and 20 min at Terminal 8. The sign above lists each terminal on its own, with every checkpoint it has and its PreCheck lane.
How current is this number?
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey publishes the JFK wait times at jfkairport.com and waittimes.io reads them every 10 minutes. The time on the sign is the last read, in Eastern time. A number older than 30 minutes says so, and a feed silent for 2 hours shows when it last published instead of a number. Nothing here is predicted.
When is TSA security at JFK quietest?
Over the 133 counted days, 22 March to 5 September 2026, JFK checkpoints screened the most people at 6 am. Between the rushes the counts are lowest at 11 am, and they fall away after 8 pm. Each row of the map above is one checkpoint scaled to its own peak, so its green hours are the ones to aim for. Counts say when a checkpoint is loaded, not how long the line is.
What time does TSA open at JFK?
Over the 133 counted days, 22 March to 5 September 2026, JFK screened passengers in every hour of the day. These are the hours TSA counted people, not JFK's published checkpoint hours. Check the airport's own page before an early flight.
Other airports
Every covered airport, ranked by its line right now, is on the national page, with the airports that publish no live number under it. The busiest airports by people screened lists every code TSA counts.
ATL, BOS, BWI, CLE, CLT, DAL, DCA, DFW, DTW, EWR, IAH, LGA, MCO, MIA, MSP, PHL, PHX, PIT, SEA, SLC
Where the numbers come from
- Wait times
- Published by The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey at jfkairport.com. We read the page every 10 minutes and show the time of the last read. A reading older than 30 minutes is marked as such.
- Usual busyness
- TSA's own hourly passenger counts per checkpoint, published weekly in its FOIA reading room. This page uses 133 days of counts, 22 March to 5 September 2026. Public domain.
- Who reads them
- Arcane Digital, which runs waittimes.io, reads every feed every 10 minutes with its own collector and stores the time of each read. The day's reads are checked every night for a feed that has stopped or thinned, and one person reads that report the next morning. Nobody types a number in.
- What we never do
- Predict a wait in minutes, or show an old number as if it were current.
- Every feed
- How each one is read, the TSA counts and who to write to: the sources page.